Rosie, where are you?

   

 

Rosie the riveter where are you? Rosie was the pinup girl of the movement to get women into trades. Then there was “Girls can do anything” and ”Give girls a go!”, the recent campaign by the Human Rights Commission.  And while labour and skills shortages meant new thinking by some employers about female Modern Apprentices, the figures show it is time for another major campaign about the need for diversity in trades training.

 

Modern Apprenticeship Statistics as at 31 December 2007

Male	9,797	91%
Female	1,011	9%
Total	10,808	100%

Modern Apprenticeship Statistics as at 31 December 2007

 Ethnicity by Gender

	Male	Female	Total
European/Pakeha	7,602	609	8,211
Maori	1,431	256	1,687
Pacific peoples	312	64	376
Other	296	31	327
Not Stated	156	51	207
Total:	9,797	1,011	10,808

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It will be another 90 years before gender equality occurs in the Modern Apprenticeship scheme at the current rate of progress. In March 2006 the total number of women in the scheme was 8.5% and in December 2007, the latest figures available, this had risen to 9.35%, less than one per cent.

   

 

 

Three industries, building and construction (1,618), engineering (1,536) and motor engineering (1,459) dominate the Modern Apprenticeship scheme.  Surprisingly, it is building and construction that is dragging the power tool. Only 5 women are Modern Apprentices in this industry compared with 1,613 men. Engineering has 15 women and 1,521 men and motor engineering has recently doubled its number of women to 52 compared to 1,407 men.

   

 

 

 The industries with the largest number of women are horticulture (185) agriculture (158) hospitality (149) and the public sector (118). The public sector and tourism are the only sectors where there are more women than men while retail has equal numbers of both sexes as Modern Apprentices.

   

 

Maori are well represented in the latest Modern Apprenticeship statistics at 15.61% while Pacific peoples are under-represented at 3.48%.

   

 

Female apprentices earned on average 21% less than their male counterparts in a 2007 study of earnings by the United Kingdom’s Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. www.dius.gov.uk/research. Comparable figures are not available in New Zealand. 

 

 

 

 

 

The Modern Apprenticeships (MA) scheme is a flagship Government initiative aimed at rebuilding trades training for young people in New Zealand. It provides young people with work-based training towards nationally-recognised qualifications.

 

The EEO Commissioner worked with a reference group of tradeswomen, educators, trade unionists and others on a strategy to improve the diversity of the Modern Apprenticeships scheme.  Download the reference group's Modern Apprenticeships Strategy here as a PDF, or read it here as an HTML page. 

 

The Modern Apprenticeship reference group's aims were to: